"MADNESS, PROVIDED IT COMES AS THE GIFT OF HEAVEN, IS THE CHANNEL BY WHICH WE RECEIVE THE GREATEST BLESSINGS."

Plato

My name is kendall crouther. I go by Kedall.

I am a Licensed Professional Educator, Storyteller and Visual Artist.

*All of my madness is heaven-sent.

"You have found a way to divorce yourself from what doesn't matter. You seem to have found a healthy relationship with the world around you. I think this is the healthiest I've ever seen you emotionally in the time we've known each other. You have worked really hard. Good job." 09132018

Before I learned how to speak, I drew many words together. Little by little they became a story. Many stories became a history. A memoir of a sort.

The general idea was to post what I’d privately blogged between Fall 2016 and Winter 2017. Then it began feeling more appropriate to post current entries, then one-year-old entries, then poetry, two-year-old entries, entries I wrote in childhood… whatever appropriately frames the story. So there are no chronologically sequenced entries after all. Timestamps reference the day I clicked “publish.”

So we’re inquiring together. Good luck, and please let me know what you find.

Kedall is most frequently asked: "Why do you create?" Read her response.

Creativity is to me what a glass tank is to a goldfish: A misinterpreted home for safe, breathing space.

The Arts are a vehicle to metacognition, authenticity and reconciliation. In that way, art expands a capacity for well-being and relationship formation beyond common affinity circles. Still, I seldom claim Art to be my friend. I envy people for which Art can exist so leisurely.

Sometimes the Body hides stories from the brain. The Body knows the Brain's first priority is self-preservation, and the Body's members can absorb pain. To keep equilibrium, the Body absorbs trauma to decrease the Brain’s cognitive load. My Body's first language is Art, and Art is my Brain's best conduit for storytelling.

I am fortunate now because Body more quickly identifies and kick-starts coping mechanisms when Brain processes old, uncensored stories that need restructuring before I can fully heal. But I have not always coped this well. And Art is still my powerful, self-advocacy tool.